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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Fickle

It is a media tradition to hammer at flailing coaches with frowny-face serious questions about how hard everything is on the players and coaches and such because they have to put up with this howling pack of fans. And I try not to get exercised about anything that comes out of that, just like I try to roll my eyes and move on at every article about a triumph in the face of The Critics. Coaches arrive at press conferences at one goal: to get out without saying something notable. When they do say something notable, it is a mistake.

"You know, people are fickle," Hoke said. "That's just the way it is. That's the world we live in."

This is of course horseshit. It's horseshit on the level of "we need to run a pro-style offense so we can stop Big Ten offense," i.e., the greatest and grandest horseshit in all the world. Hercules is required to shovel this. The big reveal from the last 20 years of media development is that fans are the only people left who aren't fickle. They can't stop watching, and what's more they can't stop watching live with all those lovely commercials interspersed. Fans submit themselves until they have commercials memorized. Until they are legendary.

In all other areas of television consumption I go out of my way to avoid commercials, going so far as to not watch recent seasons of shows I like until they arrive on Netflix. It will be four years before I see the Patton Oswalt filibuster in context. This is why every time a rights deal expires, networks treat the newly single package of games like it's the last cabbage patch doll on Black Friday.

Meanwhile, the people in charge have decided to test the edges of that fandom with an explosion in ticket prices. Paul Campos:

Here’s the price of a regular admission (not student) University of Michigan football ticket over time.

(All figures are in 2012 dollars, rounded to the nearest dollar. I couldn’t find 1970 and 1980 so I substituted the nearest available year).

This year a seat on the 15 yard line is 129 dollars with the PSL, almost three times as much as it was in 2000 and almost four times as much as it was in 1990, in constant 2012 dollars.

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Ryan Field was half Michigan fans, for some reason [Bryan Fuller]

In Michigan's specific case, they have beaten Ohio State once in the last nine years and are two-touchdown home underdogs. They are getting gouged on ticket prices in an unprecedented fashion. The athletic department has made it absolutely clear that it has no loyalty to them with "dynamic pricing" that only goes one way. Up.

There is a breaking point for even the most zealous fan. I'm the guy with the blog that's his career and I'm at mine. The only reason I am going on Saturday is because I would feel shame at not going. Absent the weird moral imperatives of fandom, I would be doing anything else. Like bowling, which I hate.

Everybody in blue in that stadium—and it will still be a majority, probably—is paying for the privilege of having their heart punched. Unlike you, they are not getting three million dollars to watch Michigan shuffle around like a syphilitic pig who thinks everything's a truffle. Collectively they are in fact giving you those three million dollars. Collectively they built the stadium you play in and the opulent locker rooms you dress in.

So take your "fickle" and shove it. Angry, sure. Impatient, sure. Because we are locked into this thing we do every week that we pretty much hate. We do so out of a sense of loyalty that the program goddamn well doesn't reciprocate with its 500 dollar waiting lists and worst access level in the country—the team that is going to stuff you in a locker on Saturday has open practices in front of the entire student section—and scheduling goddamned Appalachian State because the athletic director thinks it's cute. Any reasonable person would look at the recent history of Michigan football and go do anything else. We're here because we're locked in.

You? You've got a buyout.

It is not the fans' fault that this program is awful to be a fan of. It's not Rich Rodriguez's fault. Anyone who sells their ticket for whatever they can get—currently 60 bucks and dropping from 80 yesterday—is only making a logical decision to not get punched in the soul dong on Saturday.

I'll hate them all the same, but half out of envy this time. They are no longer mindless wallets. They don't give a crap if Brady Hoke calls them fickle, and don't write articles on the internet about it. They are logical people.

The reason Michigan Stadium is going to be half-red on Saturday isn't because of "the world we live in" except insofar as it contains a Michigan football team that people at Abu Ghraib wouldn't show prisoners.

You buy the pizza when it's good, you don't buy it when it's bad. You are fickle. That's what it means. If you bought the pizza when it was bad, you would not be fickle, you would be constantly loyal no matter what.

He's not saying there's anything wrong with your tastebuds. In fact, he has said everyone agrees the pizza sucks.

What your earlier post demonstrates (as well as the one here that you're agreeing with) is that you see things as black and white, with fans being either loyal or fickle and nothing in between. I see loyal and fickle as two ends of a wide spectrum. Out of the thousands of fans selling their tickets for the OSU game, there are probably thousands of reasons why they are doing so. For those who are selling simply because their preferred team likely won't win and they only want to back a winner, call them fickle. But there are others for whom the anticipated experience of this game -- in light of the whole season, the run of (largely) mediocrity that has preceded it for years, ever-increasing ticket costs, etc. -- has diminished to the point that 60 or so bucks in their pocket sounds like a better alternative than witnessing a possible beat-down by a rival. To brand every non-attending fan this weekend "fickle" is simple-minded and, in at least a lot of cases, wrong. And for Michigan's head coach to do so, when he's made a significant contribution to the problem, is tin-eared at best.

I've changed as infrequently as damn near anyone, as have huge swaths of the Michigan fanbase. Michigan has put 100,000 asses in seats through the good times, bad times, and RichRod times. It isn't like Michigan fans become Wisconsin fans after couple of down years. We aren't Yankee fans.

I'm hardly the canary in the coal mine, but if you've lost MY interest, your problem runs far deeper than "we're having a bad year."

yes, this is exactly it. if M fans were fickle, they'd walk right the fuck out during the Neb game. or the Akron game. There wouldn't be 300 straight 100,000+ people in the stadium. Brandon wouldn't be able to raise prices, and change the in game experience so much and do all the other shit he has in the last 3.5 years.

of all the fans in all the world, cubs fans, red sox fans and lions fans are the least fickle, mostly b/c they don't really seem to give a shit when the teams lose (AFA i can tell anyway). a loss is a foregon conclusion to begin with. so is that preferable?

look, it took a lot for this team to bring so many of us to the place we are in. so it's 2 things: 1) to describe M fans as fickle is saying a hell of a lot more than what Brady Hoke probably intended. we're a decade away from a B10 title and 7 from seriously contending for one. this ain't our 1st rodeo when it comes to dissappointment stemming from not meeting expectations. it's more than that at this point. 2) so it's a bit insulting for someone to say, 'eh they're fickle." we give a shit, so much so that it physically hurts to see this team perform so far below it's capability. the fickle line is so dismissive of the intense feeling and investment in this team that M fans have. my feelings for Michigan (this team, the program and CERTAINLY the university) are not and will never be considered fucking 'fickle.' (No, you've just bronken my ability to push aside my mental well being on saturday to be dong punched for 4 hours.)

I'm sure he'd say that's a benefit to being at Michigan, that so many people are invested and passionate about the program. until you blow chunks up and down the field so badly that the most invested and passionate fans can't bring themselves to want to watch something they used to love so much. and no, it's not about winning and losing. we were all around for 2005, 2008, 09, and the 90s when M was a constant dog to OSU. still watched. still went. but those teams either showed some level of competance on both sides of the ball or just didn't have the talent or injuries hit everywhere. this team ain't any of those. they are young in a couple spots.

it'll get better. just not 'contend for a B10 title" better in all likelyhood. untill 2015 (maybe, we're sort of putting those eggs in the Shane Morris basket, who,if we're lucky, won't have had a singe snap of meaningful football under his belt by then. tho i'm sure the process and RR and bloodymindedness of the universe will STILL be partly to blame)

The "fickle" crowd here is basically criticizing Michigan fans for not being like Lion fans. Sorry, but if a team has won a grand total of ONE playoff game in my lifetime (and I'm not young), insisting that team is still entitled to your loyalty is just plain dumb. One of things I like about sports is that, ideally, it's a meritocracy -- a team only wins consistently if it's good enough. The Lions have earned their pathetic record, by God, and they deserve exactly what they get. To say that I should support that steaming pile just because I live in the area would reward incompetence.

So, yes, I'm a Michigan graduate and I support the Michigan teams. I'll be there this Saturday, and I'll be cheering for the Michigan players, no matter what. But to say that Michigan football could never reach the tipping point, or that fans are fickle no matter what causes them to no-show this weekend or how much mediocrity precedes their decision to walk away, is to demand blind allegiance. That's not my idea of sports -- I actually prefer winning to losing, enjoy watching a quality team playing well, and think that Michigan enjoys enough inherent advantages that it's reasonable to expect a team that regularly competes for Big Ten championships. We're not there now, and yet I'm being hit with a PSL increase next year for a crappy home schedule. If some fans say enough's enough, who can blame them? One guy who shouldn't is the guy who hasn't delivered what he promised yet (a Big Ten championship), and whose team seems to be going in reverse.

You buy the pizza when it's good, you don't buy it when it's bad. You are fickle. That's what it means.

False! If I always buy good pizza, then I'm not being fickle when I don't buy bad pizza. You've set up a false dichotomy. Fickle is changing stances randomly or without regard to other factors or for poor reasons.

I don't exactly know where I'm going as I'm not a wordsmith, but your pizza example is a poor one, I'm sure of that.

As much as Dave Brandon would like to turn Michigan Football into a brand he can manipulate and control with marketing, it just isn't. There's a big difference between products and teams. Having sat in countless focus groups over the years, I've learned that people are only loyal to a degree and are emotionally tied to products even less. And therein lies the difference. A football team like Michigan provides a product, but the emotional ties that the "consumer" feels are deep and long-lasting. Could be because there's history - both the program's and the consumer's. I went to Michigan, I invested four years of my life there, it took care of me in a sense, and there is a bond and a history because I had a good experience and made lifelong friends. But the ties are strong also because the team is made up of people, and we identify with those people. We feel like we know them. Depending on how old we are, we may adopt a familial sense towards them. I may feel maternal towards them because I'm a mother. You may feel like they could be your brothers, and you start to feel those kinds of emotions. We invest ourselves in them and their success, and failure. With a pizza, you eat it and forget about it. When it's time to order another pizza, you either remember that you liked the pizza or you didn't and your actions follow. While we may not owe anything to Michigan Football, because we are so connected to this program emotionally, there is a sense of ownership and responsibility that one would just never have with an ordinary product like a pizza.

I have a restaurant I have been going to for years and years. It is an institution where I live--- even though the food was good--not great--and the service was often rude like your grumpy uncle. Yes, you were almost certain to run into friends or neighbors--but that wasn't it, it was almost unexplainable. Well, now there are new owners. Small changes have become noticeable--slightly higher prices, smaller portions and other things I, for one, cannot put my finger on. We have been back 4-5 times and always leave somehow unsatisfied. And I have learned that others feel the same way. Without making a conscious decision, we haven't been back there in months. It is obviously no longer our go-to restaurant. Is that fickle? I think not. We have proven our loyalty time and time again. We were entirely open to new owners. But the product failed us. How many bad meals do we have to eat before it is okay not to go? And to add fuel for those who believe this is fickle, if word of mouth is that things are better at the restaurant, we will undoubtedly return---because we have great memories of it and it is a place we want to go.

read the basketball posts after Sunday's loss. Some fans are fickle. I don't get why that's a controversial observation. I get that is different than what football is going through...but historically it's not.

I will be there but I am not sure I care at all how it turns out. A blowout by OSU might help forcing changes, a close game or a win equals business as usual. Radical changes are in order as there is no excuse for the crappy season which has been far worst than the record, especially in view of the weak teams we barely beat. I see no chance that we will get ahead of several Big Ten teams without change. This includes MSU which is far better coached than we are. This looks like how it was before Bo came on board. MSU ruled then and we were mostly mediocre with a seldom full stadium.

Your best and only example is a guy with two total posts and no one following his lead.

If he is causing our recruiting to falter, I assume you take full blame for our 2011 class being subpar? After all you posted constant negativity about the coaches and team in general for months. Desperation to try and prove a poor point is not a good look.

Its clearly obvious you are in denial. You and I both know you were one of the most negative posters in 2010 about a coaching staff in the same situation (total meltdown on one side of the ball). You can't deny it. Further there were plenty of people like you on this board.

If you're blaming the occasional post that doesn't support Hoke for hurting recruiting, then you and your band of RR haters sunk the 2011 class and thus can partially take the blame for the lack of depth our team is experiencing today. That is the logic you are applying. You are your own were more negative about Rodriguez than the entire board is on Hoke today.

Like I said in another post: The general consensus on this board has been that Brady Hoke deserves 5 years. Even most of the people who have said they weren't on board with him at the beginning have said he should get 5 years because firing a coach after three is ridiculous.

Again, if you truly think that small percentage of negativity on this board regarding Hoke is causing guys like Peppers to question their commitment, then how can you even post on here knowing the damage you caused to recruiting in the past?

The fact is, the atmosphere around here is far different than the tantrums you used to throw simply because you disliked Rodriguez because he didn't fit your Michigan ideal.

Of course I can deny it. Because it wasn't true. Did I argue that every apologist that everything was everyone else's fault but the staff's was silly? I'm sure I did. People were blaming the phase of the moon for the losing. The difference is now the company line is anything wrong is because of coaching and anything wrong then was because of everything but coaching. There is no "decimated defense" excuse for Borges. Nor should there be. So your memory of the board is faulty at best. There are a few people who say everything isn't Al's fault, but there's hardly anyone who would freak out if he were fired like over half the board (and more of the editorial crew) did then. And still do 3 years later.

And I'm guessing the firing of a coach because his record was FAR worse than the current staff's record probably had TONS to do with the recruiting class problems in 2011 than the people saying he was going to get fired. At least in that case, they were right.

But westward....that wouldn't be on the coast, would it? You can stop hiding behind multiple accounts and just be honest and come clean on who you are.

And I'm still waiting for you to back up all these claims with some, you know, facts. But that's not your style, is it? (Please go look for me ever saying "FIRE RICH ROD!" like people are doing about Hoke...it'll keep you out of everyone's hair for days.)

don't you just love people who can't seem to think long term? yeah, i would gladly give this one game to osu if it meant the long term future success of the team. I thought it was painfully obvious that there were quite a few people who don't think U of M will return to relevance unless borges is gone, yet people didn't think that some would be willing to do whatever it took to get rid of him?

Hoke could have used more acidic language than "fickle" (see the Bo Pelini rant against Husker fans). But he still misses the mark. The more accurate word would have been "demanding."

For me, who has been in Hoke's corner, the jury is now out as the team is likely to slip below the 8-4 I had predicted. I hate the bugger, but Dantonio improves the teams he coaches. So did Carr, for the most part (remember how people howled about him?). We are seeing the opposite here and that's on the coaches. Deterioration is not what I want to see as a fan. If that makes me fickle, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

I wouldn't call you "fickle" if you pay a lot for tickets one year and decide that the increased prices and mediocre product don't justify purchasing the same tickets next year. That's simple cost-benefit analysis. It's a personal decision, and only you know your finances. I know plenty of M football fans that can't justify the expense anymore. That's most certainly Brandon's fault.

I would call you fickle for paying money for a full season of tickets, then bailing on THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME OF THe YEAR because they're not as good as you thought and oh noes they're probably going to lose.

Michigan needs their fans the most this weekend. And they're bailing. That's being extremely fickle. And Hoke has every right to be upset about it and say what he said.

And I have no idea how this isn't a touch hyprocritical of Brian. He was a guy who rightly said the media was being way too harsh on RR that one time when he said not nice things about some dumb fans. And now Hoke does essentially the same thing, and Brian is giving him the same critical treatment that the mainstream guys were giving RR in 2008.

Because Brian is now one of the dumb fans being called out. He's not writing this because he's a white knight defending the honor of the fans, he's writing this because he is one of the fickle fans. And he has created a lot more.

Hoke is very straightforward. He was asked about the sea if red and responded by saying they (as in the M fans who sold their tickets to OSU fans) are being fickle. Brian is still going to the game. So I don't think it was a personal thing, but for some reason he took it personally.

Unless Brian is saying that if he didn't have this blog, he would happily sell his ticket to an OSU fan? In which case....uugggghhh not any better.

I don't think Brian is dumb (obviously). I do think he overreacts sometimes, and I think part of it is his thinking that we're somehow on the wrong side of history because omg we huddle oh no!

I'm not saying Brian is dumb. I think he's a brilliant writer. The blog is the best thing on the internet (non Fake Taxi edition). I said dumb fan because I was replying to someone who was discussion Coach Rod's "Get a life", which was directed at dumb fans. I used "dumb fan" to draw a parallel.

At any rate, this is just a bit much for me. You don't want to buy season tickets, fine. You don't want to buy tickets for this game, fine. You want to sell your tickets to an Ohio fan, not fine. If you do, you are being fickle. And a prick.

that's what you meant. We are in agreement anyway...your last paragraph is exactly my view. And why I think prices don't matter in this argument...if you bought a ticket already, then GO TO THE GAME. It's not just some game...it's THE game. You may not be satisfied with how much you spent for them, and that it looks like a likely loss given the team's underwhelming performance so far...but at this point why go back on it? Of all the games to give up, THIS is not one. Not if you really call yourself a Michigan fan.

If it upsets those that much then...fine don't buy the ticket in the future. By all means. That's fickle too, but not nearly as fickle as selling a ticket you already bought to an OSU fan.

My last point on this: imagine what Bo would say if he was asked this very same question. He maybe wouldn't use that super naughty mean f-word, but he sure as hell wouldn't have nice things to say about them either.

What is this, fucking Peter Pan? Michigan needs its fans this weekend because without us there believing in them they will lose, so go there with all your might and cheer and they will most certainly defeat Ohio. The team doesn't NEED us for this game. Are we magically somehow going to change the outcome of this game by being there? Well, if we are so important why don't they give 2 shits about us and what we think?

Tp think they don't give two shits about fans is wrong. Flat out wrong. They care. They see empty seats. If there's a lot of red, they'll see it. They will shake it off and try to play like it doesn't matter, and maybe it wouldn't, but it would be a hell of a lot easier if home advantage is actually, you know, an advantage. No, fans being in seats is not the difference between a win and a loss. But if you don't think it matters...then I don't know what to tell you.

I mean, we had a whole story about fans booing at the Nebraska game, clearly in disagreement with the stupid playcall of run up the middle for no gain. That really affected the players...they talked about how they had to band together and ignore the boos, that they were alone in it. And this was for boos that weren't even directed at them! Now imagine a stadium half full of red singing OHIO chants. You don't think that matters?

Ya know, CEO business bros like Dave Brandon like the come in and talk about how his predecessors did such a poor job of monetizing the school's brand, and how they failed to utilize so many revenue streams. "Gosh, those old idiots must be fools," he probably thinks.

Never once has he stopped to realize that it's idiots like him that are going to kill the whole golden goose. 30 years ago, when schools weren't nakedly proud of all the money they raked in from athletics, it was a pretty hard sale to convince people that college athletes should be paid. But when you're charging for tickets at the same level the pros do, you give less access than the pros do, and you have more advertising and are tighter clutching to your "intellectual property" than the pros are, people start saying, "Hey, this is basically pro ball, you should pay the players."

Newsflash Brandon. It's not that EVERY OTHER AD wasn't smart enough to think about goughing the shit out of their fans. They just didn't do it because it undermined the basic product they were selling, and it's better to make 60% of what you can make than max out your revenue streams and end up driving everyone away or causing the federal courts to blow the whole system up and leaving you with 0%. You shit heel.

I think Brian nailed it-- the calls for Hoke's head have been low relative to how agonizing many games have been to watch recently, and what little flack there has been he should take with class because hey... you're the coach at Michigan, guy. Job comes with some stress and some criticism. Don't call us "fickle," because we're not satisfied with a team that is dead last in the NCAA FBS in TFL allowed. Don't be surprised that when you combine Dave Brandon's ticket prices with a team that is absolutely torturous to watch, fewer fans show up. Seats for the OSU game for around $60? That sounds great... wish I hadn't spent $260 to see ND in row 91, which limits how many games I can afford to attend. The last decade has been pretty rough on the fanbase, and we're still trending downward. And I have to say I don't like having a coach who snaps (a bit) the first moment he feels like he's on the hot seat.

I admit to being frustrated and angry that in three years we have made so little progress in returning to a program that regularly plays to go to the Rose Bowl. I would like to one day see us win the Rose Bowl as well, but I will accept slow, steady progress. There has been none. It is frustrating. Part of the frustration is because a good chunk of the highlights from the last three seasons (Sugar Bowl, MSU '12, NW '13...) have been teeth-grinding anxiety attacks that were obviously unsustainable paths to big-picture success. There's nothing wrong with a lucky win... unti they all start seeming kinda lucky. I do believe Hoke should get a chance to coach in 2014 regardless of how we finish out the year, but I hope he appreciates the high expectations EVERY Michigan fan has when it comes to the long-term trajectory of the program.

That Peppers wants to take visits because Hoke's situation might change primarily because fickle fans quit supporting the program during what is typically considered the biggest game of the year? Maybe something that recruits are looking at is how fans support them through thick and thin; before, during, and after their time at Michigan.

It certainly happened to Rich Rod. There is evidence it has happened at Michigan and how that has effected recruits. And it's the worst you've ever seen? 7 wins is the worst you've ever seen? I'll venture to say a team that will finish above .500 isn't playing the worst football you've ever seen.

This is spot on. Recruits like these coaches, they committed to these coaches. The only reason recruits might start to act a little....fickle...is observing classless fans stop supporting the team and screaming for the heads of the coaches they committed to play for. I expected us to probably go 8-4 this year, so maybe we only go 7-5 instead. Many analysts didn't predict we would even get to 8 wins. I think it was Football Outsiders that pegged us at 6-6 or 5-7. We lost our second best receiver to injury, our best defensive player missed a big chunk of the season and we have about the youngest OL we have ever had. Just because we lost one or two more games than you expected and showed our youth, that is no reason to freak out. These are the same coaches we were in love with during the offseason. The ones that we all loved because they were doing it the right way and coaching with integrity. They care about the players. Real recognize real. I, for one, am sick of the win at all cost mentality. We are blessed to have coaches who are willing and capable of winning the right way and recruits recognize that. The only thing scaring them now is a divided fan base willing to sell their tickets to their arch rival for $50. I am going to be out there Saturday cheering for the team that I love, and I hope that the rest of you can stop losing your juice for a few hours and join me. Don't come to the game because you feel obligated, come because you are a fan and believe that a 14 point spread does not guarantee doom and destruction. That is why they play the game.

If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the precipitate.

I'm sure the recruits are just reading what we're saying here on MGoBlog, and aren't capable of making judgments based on what they've seen on the field this year. If we just cheered a little louder against Nebraska or this coming Saturday, it would all be different.

Apparently, Peppers has explicitly stated that he is taking visits in case Hoke is fired. If he is fired, it won't be because of wins and losses, but fan discontent.

Why isn't Hoke given the benefit of changing the coordinator of his weak unit. Coach Rod got that after a 3-9 season despite taking over a "healthy" program. Hoke took over a program in shambles, won early and has yet to lose, and people want him out without so much as trying to fix the offense?

I don't want Hoke fired, and I certainly want him to have a chance -- if he'll take it -- to fix his offense. As for what might get him fired, do you really think Brandon will fire him based on "fan discontent"? I don't. This was Brandon's hire, and given how much he likes to admit mistakes -- i.e., not at all -- I don't see him getting rid of Hoke until it's blaringly obvious from the results on the field that he's not up for the job. Like you, I don't think we're anywhere near that point yet, but keeping Borges around will get him there a lot faster.

So then where is this idea coming from that Peppers should look around in case something happens to Hoke? It certainly isn't from Brandon, the AD, or anyone on the coaching staff. Negative recruiting? Maybe, but my guess is negative recruiting only goes as far as the fans that validate it.